Rio Ferdinand praises Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham after win over Luton - 'Last season they would have lost'

Rio Ferdinand praised Tottenham for a “huge result” after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Luton took them top of the Premier League table in the early kick-off on Saturday live on TNT Sports.

Tottenham won courtesy of a Micky van de Ven goal that proved to be the winner, but it was a victory made more complicated by Yves Bissouma seeing red towards the end of the first half because of a reckless second yellow for simulation.

Ange Postecoglou switched forward Richarlison for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg at half-time, and both Cristian Romero and Van de Ven stepped up to keep Luton at bay for the remainder of the match.

Speaking after the match on TNT Sports, Ferdinand suggested that last year’s Spurs side would not have had the mental strength to see out the match.

He said: "I think this is a huge result for the changing room. The fan base too, obviously, but most importantly the changing room.

“I think there was a softness to this Tottenham team over the last year or so. Last season, they would have lost this game, they would have gone down to 10 men, and capitulated."

Looking at Postecoglou, he added: “This man here has put a steeliness into this team. Yes, it’s still early days in the league. When you go down to 10 men, the two centre halves have got to stand up and perform.”

However, he did not think that Tottenham were credible title challengers yet, despite topping the table at least until Sunday.

“Romero and Van de Ven were top class,” he said. “[But it’s] too early to talk about the championship.”

Jermaine Jenas praised the Tottenham manager for adjusting his line-up ahead of the second half.

He said: "The manager had a massive decision at half-time to make. Taking off Richarlison, who was indifferent and bringing on Hojbjerg to steady the ship in midfield, and they still had the threat going forward with Son and Maddison.

“He shored it up, it was a great decision.”

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